LG Electronics has acquired a majority stake in the Dutch IoT platform Homey. Similar to Samsung Smartthings, Homey is from the smart home sector and is expanding into the B2B market. Homey is compatible with over 50,000 different sensors. LG plans to integrate the platform into its WebOS and digital signage displays.
The acquisition gives LG access to the Homey operating system and the ecosystem that Athom has developed over the past ten years. LG plans to further develop the B2C platform Homey Cloud and the professional platform Homey Pro, integrating them into its own devices.
LG aims to develop its displays into a smart hub and central interface, similar to Samsung, by integrating Homey into WebOS. Both companies are following similar smart space strategies, linking visual solutions and IoT platforms to manage and “orchestrate” IoT devices easily and securely.
invidis reader and Intuiface CEO Vincent Encontre has been an enthusiastic user of Homey for years and praises the “excellent graphical data flow editor with triggers and actions and the simple no-code approach to program sophisticated scenarios”. Digital signage experts recognize certain parallels with Intuiface.
